Curbing Violence Against Women

In a country besieged by terrorism, social dysfunction, corruption and misplaced priorities, I was delighted to see a major newspaper dedicate an editorial to the perennial problem of gender based violence in Nigeria. Violence against women is deep seated and rooted in misguided culture and mislaid religiosity. It is therefore not surprising that the National Assembly is yet to pass any relevant bill to curb this menace in Nigeria. As THIS DAY editorial puts it "Even then, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill 2011 (VAPP, a harmonized compendium of nine legislation seeking to eliminate the challenges that women confront on a daily basis) has been before the National Assembly for consideration, since 2003, but it is yet to be enacted into Law."

This blog has made previous posts on this subject and unfortunately, this is not the type of headline that attracts attention in a society where women are largely looked upon as objects of pleasure or possession and are often blamed for violence against them while excusing the abuser. A cursory look at countries in the world where women are treated as inferior class would reveal prevent and unchecked backwardness, brutality, general and sectarian  violence, terrorism, civil war, poverty, corruption and other vices.
Nigeria urgently needs to do the following:
1. Pass enabling law
2.Train the police on handling gender based violence
3. Provide forensic medical service
4. Women Protection Agency
5. Reverse the tardiness of the judiciary and revamp court procedures on issues of violence
6. A coordinated Civil Society in raising awareness on this issue.
7. Other measures that are applicable.
We needed to act yesterday!